Posted on 09/23/2009 6:19:16 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!
Heh...you got the precious, I got the birdses.
I just went through my seed inventory...tossing seeds 5 years or older. I’m going to go out and plant spinach and lettuce here in a bit.
It’s dang cold out. I just came in from throwing Gypsy’s squeaky toy, brrrr. Guess it’s the right temperature for seeding though....
Spinach and lettuce sown.
I had a few spinach plants come up already from the fall sowing.
Gotta get my seed purchase list together...I’ve put off spending on seeds as long as I can.
I just saw your post! Outstanding news!
Well I got the back yard seeded...took a good two days of power raking though. We’ll see if I have the energy to do the front yard this spring.
Kittehs are bummed that I turned over the ryegrass cover crop this morning. The dirt looks really good, though!
Okay...I’m ready for the rain.
wow - that’s a heap of yard work; I just got down the weedfeed and crab grass stuff. Took Gyps up to the park, she got a snoot full of scents before the rain washes them away. Looks like the rain is almost here, heard the boomers out to the southwest.
I took half a day Wednesday and all day Thursday to rake up the back yard down to the dirt and then one more after spreading the seed. Guess I’ll start raking up thatch in the front yard on Monday.
We tore the landscape timbers out of the backyard Thursday. Wow, were some of them rotten! Didn’t get as much done as I wanted, but keeping Gyps eating takes so much time.
We took your advice and went “take out”. She’s hooked on fried rice from one particular restaurant, turns up her nose at the others, the little devil.
Heh. So does that restaurant know that they’re Gypsy’s favorite?
Nope. They haven’t asked, and OB hasn’t offered the information. Gyps really likes the fried rice heated up with corned beef, for now. They have deli sliced corned beef on sale at Price Choppers and I’m telling you, that stuff is so lean, I may never buy the stuff to cook myself again.
FINALLY!:
Production Begins in New Zealand on The Hobbit “ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2692861/posts?page=14#14 “
Since this will be the last major milestone in the movie until the end of production it might be time to start the new thread. I hope it will be here.
Rest in Peace: Elizabeth Taylor
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/hollywood-icon-elizabeth-taylor-dies-79/story?id=12894882
JenB...don’t even go there.
I know who SHE was.
Yeah, I heard it on the radio this morning.
Oh, cool! He’s about the right height, isn’t he?
Yeah, I heard about Elizabeth Taylor, when I got to work yesterday. I knew she’d been ill, off and on for years.
First, my mom has been home now for about a month. True, she currently has 24-hour assisted living care, but she's much happier and more mobile. We still have to visit all her doctors, but she's already looking forward to care for 12 hours, and then finally back to 100% on her own. I've gotten to like the four people who rotate through here, and so has she. Thanks for all the prayers. We now need a new set to help her get her back to her more active life.
As far as guns go, a quick announcement. I have just spent the best $10 in my life for a near-perfect solution to my Kimber Solo problems. It's nice to have the answer before anyone has even asked the questions. I have not yet seen a real-life review of the weapon, and I think I've got things pretty well squared away.
I put the tiniest Hogue wrap-around rubber sleeve on the grip, and all my problems have just about vanished.
The rubber sleeve gives my right hand about 800% more control, and I can now rack the slide normally, and hold on to the gun when firing without a problem. I had no idea before I tried this on a hunch that the solution was all in my right hand.
I "solved" the ammo problem by switching to exotic (and expensive) Fiocchi 92gr high-performance ammo. Recoil is still slightly stiff firing it in the Kimber, but no worse than firing 71gr ball in my Beretta .32. In fact, until I get holster and trigger-time issues sorted out, my Beretta is my constant pocket-protector. Now that I jumped through all the hoops for a license, I've come to the conclusion that it's my moral duty to be armed at times, even if it's with this little popgun.
And in a long-overdue followup, I finally got some trigger time in on my AR57 "suburban carbine" now that I have that Demon Tactical adjustable takedown pin in it. Prior to using the pin, I was getting rather poor groups, even with the Timney target trigger. That's because I could cause the upper to shake, rattle, and roll against the lower just by wiggling it with my hands. Various kinds of rubber washers didn't really help, except to cut down the noise of metal-against-metal.
So after verifying my 25 yard sight-in (to approximate a 100 yard zero) with the Eotech, I tried about 25 rounds with moderate effort on my part to shoot a good group. At 25 yards, the read dot was slightly smaller than the bullseye, so I was able to do a fair job of keeping the red dot centered.
I had the AR57 sighted in for the 40gr "sporting" round, so the little 19gr pills shot a little high. But I was really stuned at how well both rounds grouped. I have no doubt I could even do better with a good 4x scope, but this is my first attempt at accuracy, and I don't think I'll mess any further trying to improve things. Of course, the FN ammo itself is accurate and vey clean-burning (just a little gray dust on the bolt face and chamber mouth after 100 rounds), and the free-float bull barrel helps, too.
Despite my fondness for the exotic FN PS90, I have to admit that this rifle I slapped together out of parts from the Brownells catalog is a better, cheaper, and more accurate weapon. For where I live, this is definitely my go-to weapon to get the job done at 100 yards and under. I'll save my M-faux and M1A for bigger tasks.
It's also a good way to get into the 5.7mm game for probably $400 less than the FN PS90. The adjustable takedown pin and target trigger bring out the inherent accuracy of the bullet/upper receiver combination. Add to that recoil a bit more stiff than .22LR, and what's not to like?
All of this leads up to the news of the week: in a moment of weakness (I have them all the time), I decided to add a 1986-vintage German cop HK P7 a home for the gee-whiz weapons I like to collect (and sometimes shoot).
Apparently due to some sort of sales agreement, West German police departments that sold their H&K items to regular importers had to deface the H&K police proofmarks. This one was sold back to Heckler & Koch, so all their markings remained intact when it was imported by H&K USA. This one must have spent all 25 years in a holster while the owner chowed down on donuts ("Ich bin ein Berliner"), because it has about 80% original finish left, but is literally unfired internally.
It was intended to be a flat, compact handgun, and compares favorably in size with the current Walther PPS. Being all steel, it's a bit heavy, but it should handle the heavier 9mm military ammo better. I had no problems firing 115gr rounds through it.
The design is quite radical, and after taking the grips off, I could see why. First, the weapon has a gas delayed blowback action. A cylinder and piston below the barrel is filling up with combustion gases, and acting like a shock absorber, while the recoil is trying to slam the whole slide back on the frame. The spring around the fixed barrel is strong enough to move the slide forward again, but would not be strong enough to keep things together if this was a straight blowback design.
If that wasn't enough, the safety/firing mechanism is what we call a "squeeze cocker", although it probably has a more impressive name in German. It takes a good amount of pressure to squeeze the front of the grip into the frame. That cocks the striker, and connects the trigger. As long as you keep a firm grip on it, the weapon is ready to fire. Release the grip, and it goes back to an uncocked striker and disconnected trigger.
Removing the grips convinced me the weapon was basically unfired, and was the work of a mad German scientist/gun designer. First was the incredible complexity of what was happening behind the scenes. I can usually look "under the hood", and get a good idea of how things work, but not this time. Strictly Rube Goldberg, but it works fine.
Second, there was absolutely no wear or bright spots where the parts touched. I just put a tiny dot of Nanolube on each pivot and contact point, and buttoned everything up. It's already working smoother. More on this magnificent anachronism in the future.
Editorial note: my photo hosting site started acting wonky, so I couldn't include the last few pictures. I'll post them when/if things start working better.
And, the peek under the hood. More little pieces on the other side, too. I don't know what inspired someone to design this, unless it was a former watchmaker who wanted to try his hand at handguns.
As you can see, the P7 sits vey low in the hand, making for better pointing and less recoil. And being all steel, it has more heft, good for the hand, not so good when in the holster all day.
I think it takes 20+ pounds to squeeze the grip, but less than that to keep it squozed. Presently, that means muscle tremors and jiggles for me. If I can beat that, I'll give serious thought to using it as my carry weapon. Other than the big squeeze, it has superb handling and firing qualities, and I've already run some red-hot 9mm defensive ammo through it.
This P7M8 has been ROAD ("retired on active duty") for 25 years now. Maybe it's time for it to start working for its ammo.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
